PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. (text of measure as introduced: CR S2442-2443)
Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in Senate · Apr 3, 2008
Strengthening Student Aid for All Act - Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 to increase the maximum annual and aggregate unsubsidized Stafford loan amounts that may be provided to undergraduate students under the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) program.
Allows parents of dependent students to defer PLUS FFEL principal repayment until such students cease to be enrolled as undergraduates on at least a half-time basis.
Directs the Secretary of Education to act as the secondary market of last resort for FFELs, until July 2009, by purchasing such loans from lenders who cannot sell them in the private financial markets and thereby raise the capital needed to make new loans. Permits the Secretary to act in such capacity after such date if economic conditions threaten timely, uninterrupted access to student loans.
Showing the opening paragraphs of the official summary.
Changes title IV need analyses by allowing the calculation of a negative expected family contribution. Increases the Pell Grant available to students whose expected family contribution is a negative number.
Allows institutions of higher education (IHEs) to participate in the FFEL lender-of-last-resort program, thereby requiring guaranty agencies serving as lenders of last resort to make FFELs to students of such IHEs regardless of their ability to otherwise obtain such loans. Authorizes the Secretary to advance needed funds to guaranty agencies acting as lenders of last resort in such situations.
People & committees
Sen. Kennedy, Edward M. [D-MA] · D–MA
Legislative record
A procedural vote is different from passage. Passage in one chamber does not establish enactment. Explore the glossary.
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. (text of measure as introduced: CR S2442-2443)
Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S2440-2442)
Introduced in Senate
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We currently store references to these documents.
Source last updated: Aug 14, 2025. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
AI Conversation Starters
Choose a perspective, copy a prompt, and paste it into your preferred AI. Each prompt includes the bill version and available official source links, and asks for counterarguments as well as supporting evidence.
Analyze S.2815 as objectively as possible. Explain its main provisions, who would be affected, possible benefits and harms, implementation, exceptions, and uncertainties. Present the strongest arguments for and against it, and identify evidence needed to assess its public impact.
Examine S.2815 through a progressive lens, focusing on fairness, access, economic inequality, and effects on vulnerable communities. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and distinguish stated goals from demonstrated outcomes.
Examine S.2815 through a conservative lens, focusing on fiscal responsibility, institutional stability, federalism, and the scope of government. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and any provisions that challenge this perspective.
Examine S.2815 through a civil-liberties and limited-government lens. Consider individual rights, privacy, voluntary choice, accountability, and government power. Explain tradeoffs, possible safeguards, and the strongest counterarguments without assuming the proposal is beneficial or harmful.